​Premises

Library of Parliament is located at Aurorankatu 6 in Helsinki.

Self-Service Floor

Access to the Self-Service Floor (ground floor) is via the stairs or the lift. Users pick up the publications they wish to borrow from the shelves by themselves and check out their loans at the Customer Service Desk. The locations of the publications can be found from the SELMA database.

On the Self-Service Floor you will find:

the Open Access Collection that includes literature from 1998 onwards arranged according to subject

committee reports

the latest periodicals from 2005 onwards

a multifunction device for printing, copying and scanning

customer computers

the Researchers´ Room with ten researchers´ places

Service Floor

The library’s customer premises are located on two floors: on the Service Floor and on the Self-Service Floor. The Service Floor is located at the street level. The entrance lobby has lockers for coats and bags.

On the Service Floor you will find:

the Customer Service Desk with lending, reference and information services

the Reading Room and the Reference Library

the Open Access Collection of periodicals

a reading area for newspapers

a training room

a reservable teamwork room

the Readers´ Lounge

the exhibition area

customer computers

a microfilm reader, a scanner and a Finlex workstation

a workstation for accessing digitally preserved cultural materials

The majority of the Library’s collections are kept in storage in the Closed Stacks.

​Accessibility

The entrance to the library is handicap accessible. A lift is provided between the customer service floors of the library. There is a handicap toilet in the library. Vehicle parking is not available for visitors to the library.

​Information about the architecture of the Library of Parliament

The Library of Parliament moved from the Parliament Building to its current premises in 1978 following the completion of the Parliament Building Annex designed by the architectural firm Pitkänen, Laiho and Raunio.

The interaction with the architectural and interior decorative line of the Parliament Building implemented in the Parliament Building Annex also extends to the library. The line chosen is based on the functionalist features originally present in the interiors of the Parliament Building.

The open space arrangement characteristic of functionalism can be seen in the lobby and fixtures of the library with openings articulating the division of floors, columns with a shiny surface, large surfaces of squared glass and decorative fixtures that combine dark flame birch with steel. The polished granite used in the lobby forms part of the rock species connection between the buildings. (Suhonen Pekka, Eduskuntatalon laajennus ja peruskorjaus. In Hakala, Liisa-Maria, Suhonen Pekka (eds.), Suomen eduskunta: tausta, toiminta, rakennus. Eduskunta, Helsinki 1990, p. 103)

The building was protected by a decision of the Ministry of the Environment in 2008. The premises were renovated in 2012–2013 according to the design of Helin & Co Architects. Functional changes were made to the library premises in connection with the renovation.